Book Key Terms for Latin America and The Caribbean

Question 1

Megacities

Answer 1

Having more than 10 million residents

Examples: Sao Paolo, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro

Question 2

neotropics

Answer 2

tropical ecosystems of the western hemisphere

Question 3

grassification

Answer 3

the conversion of tropical forest into pasture

Question 4

Air pollution

Answer 4

is a major concern for Mexico City and Santiago Chile

Question 5

shields

Answer 5

humid lowlands interspersed with large upland plateaus

Question 6

altitudinal zonation

Answer 6

relationship between cooler temperatures at higher elevations and changes in vegetation

Question 7

El Nino

Answer 7

When a warm pacific current arrives along the normally cold costal waters of Ecuador and Peru in December around Christmastime
produces torrential rains

Question 8

urban primacy

Answer 8

a condition in which a country has a primate city three to four times larger than any other city in the country

Question 9

Primate Cities

Answer 9

Examples: Lima, Caracas, Guatemala, Panama, Santiago, Buenos Aires, Mexico City

Question 10

squatter settlements

Answer 10

where many of the urban poor live in self-built housing on land that does not belong to them

Question 11

latifundia

Answer 11

long-observed practice of maintaining large estates by peasants that were denied access to territory of their own

Question 12

minifundia

Answer 12

peasants farming small plots for their substinence

Question 13

agrarian reform

Answer 13

peasants demanding the redistribution of land ownership

Question 14

mestizo

Answer 14

people of mixed European and Indian ancestry (mostly in southern cone)

Question 15

remittances

Answer 15

monies sent back home to sustain family members

Question 16

syncretic religions

Answer 16

blends of different belief systems

Question 17

Organization of American States (OAS)

Answer 17

neutral hemispheric version of American relations and cooperation

Question 18

UNASUR

Answer 18

Union of South American Nations includes all the states of South America except French Guiana

Question 19

Treaty of Tordesillas

Answer 19

Portuguese presence in the Americas was result of this

Question 20

supernational organizations

Answer 20

governing bodies that include several states

newest one being UNASUR

Question 21

Subnational organizations

Answer 21

groups that represent areas or people within the state form along ethnic or ideological lines or can support organized crime

Question 22

neoliberalism

Answer 22

policy reforms that emphasized privatization, direct foreign investment, and free trade

Question 23

maquiladors

Answer 23

Mexican assembly plants that line the border with the US

Question 24

informal sector

Answer 24

provision of goods and services without the benefit of government regulation, registration, or taxation

Question 25

dependency theory

Answer 25

expansion of European capitalism created the region’s underdevelopment

Question 26

dollarization

Answer 26

process by which a country adopts in whole or in part - the US dollar as its official currency

Question 27

Bolsa Family

Answer 27

conditional cash transfer programs from the state have reduced extreme poverty

Question 28

rimland

Answer 28

the Caribbean coastal zone of the mainland

includes Belize and the Guianas as well as the coast of Central and South America

Question 29

Greater Antilles

Answer 29

Four large islands: Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico

Question 30

Lesser Antilles

Answer 30

form a double arc of small islands stretching from the Virgin Islands to Trinidad
Smaller in size and population than the Greater Antilles

Question 31

Hurricanes

Answer 31

heavy rains and fierce winds

Question 32

Caribbean diaspora

Answer 32

the economic flight of caribbean peoples across the globe- has become a way of life for much of the region

Question 33

plantation America

Answer 33

designates a cultural region that extends from midway up the coast of Brazil through the Guianas and the Caribbean into the southeastern United States

Question 34

mono-crop production

Answer 34

a single commodity under plantation system that concentrated land in the hands of elite families

Question 35

African Diaspora

Answer 35

the forced removal of Africans from their native areas due to things such as the slave trade

Question 36

maroons

Answer 36

communities of runaway slaves

Question 37

indentured labor

Answer 37

workers contracted to labor on estates for a set period of time often several years

Question 38

Creolization

Answer 38

refers to the blending of African, European, and some Amerindian cultural elements into the unique cultural systems found in the Caribbean

Question 39

Monroe Doctrine

Answer 39

claimed that the US would not tolerate European military involvement in the western hemisphere

Question 40

neocolonialism

Answer 40

when the US indirectly asserted its control over the region with the Monroe Doctrine

Question 41

CARICOM

Answer 41

Caribbean Community and Common Market

regional industrialization plan and the creation of the Caribbean development Bank to assist poorer states

Question 42

Bananas

Answer 42

are important to the Caribbean

Question 43

Free-trade zones

Answer 43

FTZs duty-free and tax-exempt industrial parks for foreign corporations

Question 44

Offshore banking

Answer 44

centers appeal to foreign banks and corporations by offering specialized services that are confidential and tax exempt

Question 45

capital leakage

Answer 45

huge gap between gross income and the total tourist dollars that remain in the Caribbean

Question 46

brain drain

Answer 46

training professionals for the benefit of developed countries

Question 47

brain gain

Answer 47

return of migration of Caribbean peoples from North America and Europe
contribute to the social and economic development of a home country with experiences they have gained abroad